β-Catenin Expression Negatively Correlates with WIF1 and Predicts Poor Clinical Outcomes in Patients with Cervical Cancer

Biomed Res Int. 2016:2016:4923903. doi: 10.1155/2016/4923903. Epub 2016 Oct 24.

Abstract

Aberrant activation of the canonical Wnt pathway plays a significant role in cervical cancer (CC). However, limited data show the correlation between the cancer clinicopathological characteristics and the key molecules such as β-catenin and Wnt inhibitory factor 1 (WIF1). In this study, β-catenin and WIF1 expression were analyzed by immunohistochemistry for 196 patients with CC, 39 with cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN), and 41 with normal cervical epithelium (NCE). Significant overexpression of β-catenin was detected in CC (67.9%) when compared to CIN (43.6%) or NCE (34.1%), p < 0.01, while low WIF1 expression was detected in CC (24.0%) when compared to CIN (59.0%) or NCE (58.5%), p < 0.001. Negative correlation was shown between β-catenin and WIF1 expression (r = -0.637, p < 0.001). In addition, multivariate analysis revealed that both lymph node metastasis and β-catenin expression were the independent prognostic factors not only for disease-free survival (HR = 5.029, p < 0.001; HR = 2.588, p = 0.035, resp.), but also for overall survival (HR = 5.058, p < 0.001; HR = 2.873, p = 0.031, resp.). Our findings indicate that, besides lymph node metastasis, β-catenin expression may also be a poor prognostic factor for CC while WIF1 could be a potential drug target for treatment of advanced CC.

MeSH terms

  • Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing / metabolism*
  • Adult
  • Disease-Free Survival
  • Female
  • Genetic Pleiotropy
  • Humans
  • Immunohistochemistry
  • Kaplan-Meier Estimate
  • Mitosis
  • Multivariate Analysis
  • Prognosis
  • Repressor Proteins / metabolism*
  • Treatment Outcome
  • Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / metabolism*
  • Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / pathology*
  • beta Catenin / metabolism*

Substances

  • Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing
  • Repressor Proteins
  • WIF1 protein, human
  • beta Catenin